Bulega Goes Six for Six in WorldSBK
W
orldSBK reconvened at
Portimao for round two of
the championship and it was
normal service for Nicolo Bulega
(Aruba.it Ducati) who took all
the race wins to keep his perfect
season intact.
Bulega won race one by just
over 2.5 seconds from his team
-
mate Iker Lecuona, but all eyes
were on the rider who finished
up third, local hero Miguel
Oliveira (RockIt BMW).
Fourth was Alex Lowes (bi-
mota by Kawasaki Racing Team)
in a gutsy ride through the pain
barrier due to his injured left
wrist holding him to five laps or
so for each riding stint in prac
-
tice. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS
Ducati) placed fifth and was also
the top independent rider.
In the Superpole race, held
in warm and sunny conditions,
for a time it looked like Oliveira
would maybe stay with front-
runner Bulega, but as the laps
clicked over, Bulega asserted his
dominance, set a new lap record
of 1:39.107, and won his fifth
race in succession in 2026.
Second was the slower-starting
Lecuona, with Oliveira third. With
Alex Lowes fourth and Sam Low
-
es fifth, race one's top five places
were replicated in the sprint.
In race two, the eventual top
five finishing order was the
same yet again—Bulega, Lecu
-
ona, Oliveira, Alex Lowes and
Sam Lowes.
Sounds dull, but it wasn't
really, as Alex Lowes had a go
at Oliveira on the last corners
of the finale but just missed by
0.169 of a second.
Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki
WorldSBK Team) fell on the
final corner of the last lap, try
-
ing to get into ninth place. Both
Barni Spark riders (Montella and
Bautista) would fall, restart, but
eventually retire.
"We gave it our best and did
the best we could, but unfor
-
tunately, we did not have the
Superpole race we were hoping
WIND
IN THE
P38
Nicolo Bulega's
(11) perfect season
continued at Portimao
with another triple.
